1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of instrumentation and control, especially to areas where the intrinsic fire/explosion safety, immunity to electrical disturbances, immunity to eavesdropping and ability to propagate a signal through air or empty space of the present invention are features which are desirable VS conductor wires, strain gauge or capacitance diaphragm based devices and current optic based devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Devices for sensing and/or controlling weight, force, displacement, position, and chemistry are common in everyday life and commerce. Communication in the form of electric signals carried in wires or light signals carried in optic fibers are commonplace and well known.
A well known application of electronic controls translating a deliberate input from an operator or pilot into an output quantity would be the “fly by wire” systems developed for aircraft where a small, low force displacement of a lever by the pilot is translated via wires to a machine powered by the craft's electric or hydraulic system to create a large, forceful displacement of an aerodynamic control surface, replacing the earlier, more limited systems relying on the strength of the pilot to directly place the aerodynamic control surface via cables or hydraulics.
Systems which measure a physical quantity and are constructed of an excitation device, sometimes referred to as a signal conditioner, which powers it's transducer, and a transducer which converts a physical quantity such as pressure, position, force, or chemical condition into an electric or optic signal, and a communication link consisting of a wire or an optic fiber to transmit the excitation energy to the transducer and to transmit the signal from the transducer to a reader device, and a reader device which converts the signal to a display or indicator position expressing the quantity being measured in some number of units or which communicate with other equipment for reporting, process monitoring or control are known. A common example of such an electronic device is the well known strain gauge scale or strain gauge pressure sensor which provides electrical power to a Wheatstone bridge, the output of which is a predictable function of the strain experienced by the gauge elements, usually expressed in millivolts of output voltage per volt of input voltage per unit of strain or microstrain. These electronic devices are all vulnerable to the effects of interference from stray or deliberate electromagnetic energy, thus reducing accuracy or destroying the device. To avoid these problems shielding is often employed which increases weigh, size, and cost and decreases flexibility. These electronic gauges also present the danger of their own electric signals facilitating eavesdropping or unintentionally igniting flammables and explosives. Optic devices are known to solve some of these issues such as the Knute device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,010 which uses a reader/generator which communicates via an optic link of four separate fibers; two outgoing (one each “signal” and “reference”) and two return (one each “signal and “reference”) to and from a transducer which is exposed to an environment to measure some quantity, in this case pressure. Notably, this device would be vulnerable to inaccuracies due to any physical phenomena that affect any one, two, or three of those fibers in a manner not exactly equal to the others. A single fiber device would offer advantages in accuracy, robustness, economy, and miniaturization over a multi-fiber device. Further, if using a multi-fiber design such as Knute's or any similar analog system which converts light intensity into output in units being measured is employed in a disposable or replaceable device, then the transducer, fiber optic link, and optic emitting and receiving elements must all be part of the disposable or replacement component and then interface to the “reader” via electrical connections, thus adding cost. This type of connection is necessary for accuracy in that type of device due the unpredictable attenuation of signal whenever an optic fiber connection is made. There is also no ability in the Knute device for the reader or conditioning device to observe the transducer output through a gap or from a distance.
Another type of well known sensor device is the capacitance diaphragm gauge. This device uses the deflection of a conductive diaphragm which reacts to pressure. The device is constructed such that the position of the diaphragm relative to a fixed electrode is used to measure pressure as a function of the capacitance between the reactive and fixed elements. This sort of device has limitations in part because it is electronic and subject to interference and other aforementioned problems with electronic transducers, and as importantly, it has sensitivity issues at low absolute pressures. One intrinsic limitation of the capacitance based device is that there is a point where the electrical excitation of the capacitor begins to significantly influence the position of the reactive diaphragm. This is an issue which is avoided entirely by using light to detect position of the reactive element.